Portugal’s PM nominates 15 state secretary positions in govt overhaul

Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa nominates 15 secretary of state and subsequent assistant positions to be approved by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa this week.

An overhaul of the Portuguese government sees Portugal’s President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa receiving the following proposals for the appointment of Secretaries of State, which were sent to him by Prime Minister Costa.

Secretary of State for the Appreciation of the Interior, João Paulo Marçal Lopes Catarino

Secretary of State for Culture, Ângela Carvalho Ferreira

Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education, João Alberto Sobrinho Teixeira

Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Francisco Ventura Ramos

Secretary of State for Health, Raquel de Almeida Ferreira Duarte Bessa de Melo

Assistant Secretary of State and of Mobility, José Fernando Gomes Mendes

Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Manuel Martins

Secretary of State for Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation, Célia Maria Gomes de Oliveira Ramos

Secretary of State for Housing, Ana Cláudia da Costa Pinho

Secretary of State for Energy, João Saldanha de Azevedo Galamba.

In the ministries that have undergone changes, there are five secretaries of state who will be reappointed: Ana Mendes Godinho (Tourism), José Mendes (who becomes Deputy and Environment Deputy and Mobility), Carlos Martins (Environment), Célia Ramos (Spatial Planning and Conservation of Nature) and Ana Pinho (Housing).

After the reappointment of the above five secretaries of state, the 10 that are left will become new secretaries of state, after the remodeling in the Government, announced by the prime minister on Monday.

“I choose as one of the main priorities of my mandate – the fight against economic and financial crime, with a particular focus on corruption, which has become one of the biggest scourges that can shake the foundations of the State and erode the confidence of citizens in the democratic regime,” said the newly-appointed Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).

Gago was the “first choice and first acceptance,” according to Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, who alluded that the future of the Attorney General’s Office should be a testimony to ensure a “long and unique” mandate.

Gago’s anti-corruption pledge connected with Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s speech, which called for a priority to be given to combating corruption and to do it “without fears, hesitations or ambiguities.”